Sam Brownback

It took the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Mike Pence, but on Wednesday the Senate finally approved, in the narrowest of margins, Sam Brownback as the State Department’s next ambassador at large for international religious freedom. Immediately after, Brownback announced his resignation from his post as governor of Kansas.

In an appearance before Jewish voters Tuesday, all five Republican presidential candidates expressed skepticism about the Bush administration’s current push for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.